Jesperi Kotkaniemi and the Hurricanes skated past the noise to thump the Canadiens
Before the game, the talk was about Jesperi Kotkaniemi, an offer sheet, the Carolina Hurricanes and how Montreal Canadiens fans would greet their former player Thursday.
“He knows all the eyes will be on him,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
There was the not-so-small matter of playing the hockey game. The Canes were 2-0 and itching to play again, and the Canadiens 0-4 and desperate to notch a first win this season.
Kotkaniemi, in his return game to the Bell Centre, made himself a big part of the story as the Canes took a 4-1 road victory.
Widely booed when he first took the ice in the first period, the forward had Montreal fans booing again in the third when he redirected a Brady Skjei shot past goalie Jake Allen for his first goal with Carolina. That gave the Canes a 3-1 lead at 9:23 of the period and had Kotkaniemi and everyone on the Canes bench smiling.
“It felt really good,” Kotkaniemi said after the game, smiling again. “It was a big relief. I didn’t really know what to expect. It was fun.”
Sebastian Aho scored twice, his first two goals of the season, and Andrei Svechnikov continued to sizzle with his fourth goal in three games. Goalie Frederik Andersen won for a third time, staying calm, making 27 saves, and the Canes killed off five of six penalties.
“Our killers came up big and our goalie was great again,” Brind’Amour said. “Let’s be perfectly clear, that’s the difference in the game. We can’t take all those penalties and rely on the goalie that much.”
After a scoreless first period, the Canes struck swiftly in the second. Aho and Svechnikov — No. 37, again — both scored in the first 2:12 of the period, Aho converting on a power play that began late in the first period and then Svechnikov at even strength for a 2-0 lead. Aho’s second goal was an empty netter to make it 4-1.
Aho’s first goal of the season came on Teuvo Teravainen’s cross-ice pass into Aho’s wheelhouse. Svechnikov went top shelf from the right side after a setup pass from Martin Necas, one of his game-high seven shots.
Jordan Staal nearly made it 3-0, Canes, with a strong shorthanded chance in the second but the Habs then scored on the power play. Tyler Toffoli got position in front of the net for his first of the season — the first for the Habs and the first allowed by the Canes this season after 11 straight kills.
Andersen made a key stop with five minutes left in regulation on Jonathan Drouin, then denied Cole Caufield and Brendan Gallagher a minute later around the crease to maintain the 3-1 lead. He faced 15 “high-danger” chances in the game, according to Naturalstattrick com, including eight in the second period.
The Canes took Kotkaniemi, 21, away from the Canadiens by making a one-year, $6.1 million offer sheet to a player who was a restricted free agent. The Canadiens, with salary-cap concerns, did not match the offer sheet, instead taking first-and third-round picks in the 2022 NHL Draft from Carolina and later trading for center Christian Dvorak.
Brind’Amour said Kotkaniemi had a “good game and got rewarded.”
“I’m happy for him,” Brind’Amour said to the media. “That’s tough for anybody. Whether you’re a young kid or not you don’t want to hear (boos). But I think he expected that kind of reaction, that’s just the way it is, and he answered that the best way he could.”
Brind’Amour had Kotkaniemi on Aho’s line with Teravainen to start Thursday’s game. That put the three Finns together for the first time in a game, all the better for communication, and also to boost Kotkaniemi’s comfort level in this game.
“He was good,” Aho said. “Just hearing those boos, you get some fuel out of that. But he was good and like I said today it’s just a matter of time before he gets more comfortable.”
The Canadiens believed they had scored the game’s first goal on a power play when Brendan Gallagher redirected a shot at 5:33 of the first. But Brind’Amour won a coach’s challenge for goaltender interference by Gallagher, who was in the crease, and the goal was disallowed. More boos.
“Goalie interference, it’s always a crapshoot,” Brind’Amour said. “You just don’t know. But by the letter of the law (Gallagher) is in the crease and he bumps the goalie.”
Kotkaniemi said he quickly eyed the schedule after coming to Carolina and saw the Canes had an early trip to Montreal. He also quipped that he has been so concerned about the game in recent days that he headed out on golf courses with Teravainen.
Come Thursday, Kotkaniemi was ready for anything.
“It was an unusual situation, so it was really fun,” he said.
What’s next
Teams: Carolina Hurricanes at Columbus Blue Jackets
When: Saturday, 7 p.m.
Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio.
TV/Radio: Bally Sports South, WCMC-FM 99.9
This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 9:48 PM.
